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There are several options available for solar energy education ranging from 1 day introduction courses through 2 year degree programs. There are community college programs, trade schools, courses offered by not for profit organizations and associations, manufacture product training and e-learning or online courses.

Rhone Resch, President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), released the following statement today after announcing an industry-wide goal of installing 10 gigawatts of solar capacity annually by 2015. Resch made the announcement during a presentation at the 35th IEEE Photovoltaics Specialist Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii: “Over the last few months, we have seen disaster after disaster caused by the fossil fuel industries and Americans are calling for a new direction for our energy future. And in communities across America, people are asking for an energy source that is clean, reliable, safe and creates economic opportunity. That energy source is solar.” Read the Full Release here.

Energy can be retrieved from the oceans in five basic ways: Tides, waves, tidal or marine currents, temperature gradients, and salinity gradients. Of these, wave energy is the most significant resource, according to ABS Energy Research, followed by power from salinity and thermal gradients.

During a vacation trip to the Disney World, I saw the Exxon-Mobile energy presentation. The presentation includes a portion in the form of the Jeopardy game. For the final question in the Jeopardy game, the answer is "The solution to the future energy need." The correct question is "What is brain power?"

Hydropower is the largest renewable source of power generation and currently accounts for about 20% of the world's total electricity supply. The world's hydropower installed capacity increased from 695.8GW (Gigawatts) in 2001 to 888.8GW in 2009, registering a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 3.1%. Since hydropower is a mature technology, it has witnessed a modest growth rate.

Jack Short is the Secretary General of the International Transport Forum. He is also the Director of the Joint OECD/ITF Transport Research Centre, which was set up in 2004. He joined the ECMT in 1984 and was Deputy Secretary General from 1993 to 2001, when he became Secretary General. Previously he worked for the Ministries of Transport and Finance in Ireland, as well as in transport research.

As the ceremonial handkerchiefs fell and the dust settled on a busy sine die, a bright piece of legislation emerged: House Bill 7179 (the "Bill"). This Bill, which was the last bill passed this legislative session, is a ground breaking piece of legislation that establishes Florida's Property Assessment Clean Energy (PACE) program.

Founded in 1985, Bentek is a leader in manufacturing and engineering solutions for complex electro-mechanical and power distribution systems for the semiconductor and solar industries. Bentek has applied these extensive capabilities and knowledge into a comprehensive family of standard and configure-to-order (CTO) solar combiner products. These solar combiners provide quality, ease of installation and safety to the solar industry. Here President and CEO Mitch Schoch explains why Bentek Solar is an innovative leader in the solar industry.

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA), announced today that it expects the European wind energy sector to create over 250,000 new jobs in Europe in the next decade. "The European Wind Energy Association expects strong growth in wind energy employment in Europe over the coming years to 280,000 by 2015 and 450,000 by 2020. That's on average, 450 new European wind energy jobs per week over the next decade" said Christian Kjaer, Chief executive of the European Wind Energy Association. Three key areas - offshore wind, electricity grids, and the training and education of more engineers and technical staff - were identified as critical to creating those new jobs. "Only if we continue to install large amounts of renewable energy in the EU and support pilot projects of new technologies, will European renewable energy companies be able to compete", said Rasmussen, "Offshore wind has the largest growth potential and needs to receive stronger public support from and within the European Union".

Students from Mississippi State University placed first in the 2010 EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge finals in San Diego, Calif. after designing and building an exceptional biodiesel extended-range electric vehicle (EREV). Virginia Tech earned second place with an ethanol EREV design and Penn State came in third place building a biodiesel EREV vehicle. Mississippi State University competed against 15 other universities to win first place in Year Two Finals of the three-year competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors (GM). The competition challenges university engineering students from across North America to re-engineer a GM-donated vehicle to minimize the vehicle's fuel consumption and emissions, while maintaining its utility, safety and performance. Read about how the contest works here.

AltEnergyMag has joined forces with Cleantech Law Partners (CLP) to help our readers navigate the sometime dizzying legal and policy issues that are changing every day. CLP is a a boutique law firm that focuses on exactly these kinds of issues and works with clients everyday to help make clean energy projects a reality across the country.

With a total of just over 7,000 participants from 55 countries; and over 450 exhibiting companies from 16 countries All-Energy 2010 (Aberdeen, 19-20 May 2010), the UK's largest renewable energy exhibition and conference, has proved to be a true record-breaker. The conference boasted more than 270 speakers and chairs taking part in over 50 sessions over the two days. "Total attendance was up by 25%, and incredibly the exhibition was 25% larger than the 2009 show," explains Event Director, Jamie Thompson of Media Generation Events Ltd.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the United Steelworkers (USW) today released a joint ‘Framework Agreement' to create a ‘Partnership for Progress' in accelerating the development and deployment of wind energy production in the U.S. In the coming days, AWEA and the USW will release a cooperative action agenda they intend to jointly pursue and advocate for adoption by Congress and the Obama Administration . That agenda will include policies such as a federal Renewable Electricity Standard and the extension of necessary tax incentives. The USW's Leo W. Gerard expanded on the Framework Agreement by explaining it has four components. "First the agreement calls for an initial assessment of exactly where we are. On any journey, it's vital that you know where you're starting from. Second, it calls for results-oriented targets that identify the destination. Third, to get us from here to there, it creates a partnership on a public policy agenda with the goal of enhancing the expansion of domestic supply chains and ensuring that we have the qualified and skilled workers we need. During the journey, it lastly calls for periodic assessments to ensure that the effort stays on track."

Professor Michael Gratzel The inventor of a low-cost solar cell that could be used to build electricity generating windows has been awarded this year's Millennium Technology Prize. He received the €800,000 prize at a ceremony in Helsinki. Explaining his inspiration, he said: "I was always intrigued by the way plants capture sunlight and turn it into fuels like sugar. Gratzel says "Natural photosynthesis was the inspiration, and our solar cell is the only one that mimics the natural photosynthetic process." Gratzel cells rely on nanotechnology to produce power from sunlight. "We are using nanocrystal films in which the particles are so small, they don't scatter light," said Professor Gratzel. "You can imagine using those cells as electricity producing windows. What's very exciting is that you collect light from all sides, so can capture electricity from the inside as well as the outside. You could think that the glass of all high-rises in New York would be electricity generating panels."